


dew-grass

by teddy_the_bear03



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, LET THEM BE OKAY, M/M, Nighttime walks, P O O L S, Summer Fic, everyone's happy for one month :'), garden gays, it's not what you think though, jack n gabe are GAY, oh yeah pharah goes to theater camp, peacocks down the street, sneaking drinks LOL, summer fun!!, summer vacation?? lol, watermelon cake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 23:45:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13669812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddy_the_bear03/pseuds/teddy_the_bear03
Summary: surreal moments in the summertime.//





	dew-grass

**Author's Note:**

> hoo boy, this is my first fic!! it naturally has to be for gabe and jack, as they're definitely one of my favorites, and i hope you enjoy!! it was very fun to write, as i based off of a summer i had as a child in long island, and i feel like i brought those moments back to life. once again, i hope you enjoy, and i am excited to share my writing with the fandom!!

 jack shields his eyes from the patio light shining down on him in the pool. it’s much too bright for him at nine pm, and he ops for ducking underwater, getting his blonde hair wet before resurfacing and calling for ana to turn it off.

the egyptian woman pokes her head out from the kitchen, flipping a lightswitch as she looks outside and the light goes dark, and jack sighs happily. “thanks!” he calls out, and he thinks he hears a “you’re welcome” before he goes under again.

the pool light is turquoise now, but it fades to a green, then to a yellow, and so on. it’s one of those color changing lights, and jack enjoys seeing it transition to a different hue underwater. he suddenly feels a crash behind him, and bubbles erupt in his face before he goes upwards for air.

he sees gabe smiling at him when he breaks the surface, and a laugh escapes through his mouth. “glad you decided to join me,” jack says, resting on his knees in the shallow end of the pool. his head is still above the water, so he can hear and respond to gabe with no problem. the californian laughs back and splashes at him and jack simultaneously hates and loves the way his heart leaps into his throat.

jack splashes back at him, and they both laugh before gabe lets out a sigh and wades over to where jack kneels, going under just enough so his eyes are above the chlorinated water. they look at each other in an unannounced staring contest, and jack adores how dark gabe’s eyes are as they float above the surface.

the californian finally breaks eye contact, staring at the garden behind the pool. it’s illuminated by soft lamps, just so you can see the white flowers blooming on bushes and red zinnias curling up from the dirt. “it’s beautiful,” he says, and jack can hear the wistfulness in his voice.

they’re only allowed to stay here for the month of july. then it’s back to war, back to fighting, back to sleepless nights thinking about how he could’ve done better. he can tell ana is trying to relish being back home, but it’s different now. they, the three of them, have seen so much that living normally seems unimaginable.

so jack leans over to gabe and takes his hand, prompting the man to look at him again before he kisses him quickly and gently on the mouth. he doesn’t move far away when they part, so gabe cups his face and pulls him in again, and jack feels intoxicated. he’s idiotic and lucky and idiotically lucky to have had gabe around him for so long, but he’ll take it. he’ll always take it.

once they break away, gabe smiles at him again. “what brought that on?” he asks, eyebrow raised and water dripping down his face. jack feels his own cheeks flush. “i-i don’t know,” he says, going underwater once more. gabe rolls his eyes, his face warm, and ducks underwater as well, and they come up for air, laughing.

a few minutes later, they hear ana come onto the porch, wearing a simple blue sundress reinhardt had gotten her for her birthday a few years back. she’s carrying something that looks a lot like a watermelon, but smoother and the colors muted. jack grins, almost childishly, and gabe raises an eyebrow. “what? what is it?” he asks, before following the blonde’s gaze. a grin appears on gabe’s face as well.

“hey, ana!” jack calls, causing the egyptian to look at the two in the pool. “what is it?” she asks, looking back down at the glass table and brandishing a knife. “is that what i think it is?” jack yells again, and she looks at him, betrayed.

“damn,” she laughs, cutting the watermelon ice cream cake, “i thought i was going to surprise you guys! get out if you want some,” she prompts, and jack and gabe race the side of the pool, the warm summer air cool on their drenched swimming trunks.

gabe grabs the two towels hanging on the chair on the patio, handing one to jack and drying off his back with the other. the slices of cake are neatly placed on paper plates, decorating the glass table-top with red, green and white. jack hangs the rainbow towel around his shoulders before grabbing the nearest slice and fork, ana grinning at him. he quickly takes a bite and nearly moans.

the flavors are sweet, childishly so, and the white chocolate chips add a nice crunch. it’s cold and refreshing, and jack sits down on the bench near the patio, illuminated by white garden lights. “yummy?” ana asks, handing gabe a slice and then sitting down on the concrete next to jack. the blonde man nods vigorously, and he hears gabe exhale softly when he takes a bite. “you can say that again,” the californian adds, quickly shoving another forkful of cake into their mouths.

the three of them know that reinhardt will reprimand them for eating cake before dinner, and ana would feign innocence, claiming the two younger boys stole the cake all for themselves. but then reinhardt would cave, leave the barbecue on the counter and get a slice himself.

it was nice, having people close to you in the midst of a war. ana and reinhardt were a lot like jack’s parents, older and wiser and stronger and caring. he remembered his first time on the battlefield; how ana had been there, listened to him when he’d cried, and how reinhardt brought him a mug of hot chocolate but told him it didn’t get any better.

and gabe.

gabe was always there, warm next to him in the mornings. they watched spanish soap operas together (gabe hated to turn on the subtitles, but jack didn’t understand _anything_ ) and cooked together in the early hours of the dawn in the base, where they could be alone in the kitchen, dancing to mariah carey. gabe was also there through all of _it_ ; the soldier enhancement programs, the fights, and he was still there, smiling up at him when he woke at three am.

for now, though, they sat together on the bench while ana sat beside them on the concrete, eating cold watermelon cake while reinhardt cracked open the screen door, yelling that he was back home. ana goes to help him, putting down her cake on the glass table, and jack thinks that for now, this is alright.

//

they’re laughing a little too hard as gabe stuffs cokes into his cargo shorts, the air conditioning cool on their sunburnt skin. they’d just come inside from helping reinhardt in the garden, and they both decided to take a little break. they’d already finished tending to the tomatoes, and reinhardt had gotten a drink for himself and told them to rest for a few minutes before they watered the squash.

while gabe shoves the cold sodas into his pants, jack peeks back outside, where reinhardt is lounging in a patio chair in the shade. he has a glass of iced tea that ana made beside him, and jack thinks he can hear faint snoring. he gives gabe a thumbs up.

they’re halfway out the door, cokes in shorts and chips in hand when jack remembers that reinhardt would worry if he woke up with no sign of the missing boys. he grabs a sticky note and quickly scribbles down that they’re out on a romantic walk and to _not look for them._ then they scurry out the door, laughing once more.

they make it outside, relishing in the heat as they walk down the road. ana lives in a small, bayside neighbourhood, with friendly people lining the streets. they’re planning to make it to sally and don’s garden, a few houses down the street. the elders aren’t home, and it’s a perfect place to rebel and sip at sodas while they watch the flowers twist in the breeze.

ana doesn’t like them drinking any kind of carbonated drink; she only keeps them in her fridge because pharah, her eleven year-old daughter, loves them. but the little girl is off at theater camp for a week, and ana is taking a class at a local yoga studio, so the duo decided that if ana is away, the boys will... steal cokes and chips from the fridge and pantry and not-trespass into a garden.

they reach said garden relatively quickly, and jack’s assumption that sally and don are gone is confirmed as their car isn’t in their driveway. they sneak through the back gate and the smell of sweet flowers hit their noses immediately.

they find a spot in the grass, sun beating down on their shoulders and gabe pries the cokes out of his shorts. jack giggles, smiling at the californian. “i cannot believe those actually fit,” he snorts, and gabe rolls his eyes. “i knew they would,” he replies, cracking open a can and handing it to jack, “it just took a bit of work.”

after that, they sit in relative silence, drinking at the sweating cans and gazing at the bees floating around the garden, landing on the pretty pink flowers that dot the area. “you think reinhardt would be jealous?” gabe asks, idly eating a chip. jack grins and says, “i know he is. that’s why he’s making us slave away.” gabe chuckles and rests his head on jack’s shoulder, prompting the man to brush a light kiss to the other’s forehead.

“i love you,” gabe mutters, popping off the straw holder on the can. jack smiles, loving the feeling in his chest as his boyfriend says the words. “i love you, too,” he responds, and they sit like that, munching on salt and vinegar chips and heat scorching their skin as they sit in the grass.

//

“hey, kiddo!” jack grins, seeing pharah hop off a yellow school bus into the driveway. today the girl came back from theater camp, brown eyes bright and full of wonder. “uncle jack!” she yells, running towards him and the soldier pulls her in for a hug, grinning brightly. she was such a sweet kid, innocence running through her veins, and he prayed to whatever higher power that it never ran dry.

“how was camp?” he asks, situating themselves on the porch. they’re sitting opposite each other on white rocking chairs, jack drinking a bottle of water and reading a magazine he’d found in ana and reinhardt’s room. it looked to be from 2015, so it, to him, was probably ancient.

“it was AWESOME! i met a nice girl named angela there, and we listened to a ton of musicals, and we played a fun game called pass the mic, and…” jack lets the girl ramble on, bouncing happily in her own rocking chair. she’s so alive, so happy when talking about her passions, and jack briefly wonders if he and gabe would ever have kids.

“that sounds great!” he says, the little girl waiting expectantly for his reaction. “explain to me pass the mic,” he asks, taking a swig from the water bottle and the girl launches herself into another rapid-fire explanation, and jack only catches half of it. he’s enjoying himself, though, so he lets pharah go on without asking for confirmation.

after a few minutes of her spouting information about her week at theater camp, ana’s rickety car pulls into the driveway. her, reinhardt and gabe had all gone to a photography day camp, where they toured an entire farm and learned camera techniques during the afternoon. they all looked hot and sweaty, and jack couldn’t stop himself from thinking how absolutely gorgeous gabriel seemed like that.

“my baby!” ana cries, rushing out of the car to scoop pharah into her arms. “my sweet sugar lump,” the egyptian then murmurs, peppering her daughter’s face with kisses. “maaaam,” pharah squeals, but she takes it all in, relishing in the feeling of being held by her mother for the first time in a year.

ana holds pharah a little longer, before loosening her grip and staring into her eyes. before they can do anything else, however, reinhardt takes the girl and gives her a large hug, making her jolt with surprise before erupting into laughter.

gabe and jack watch ana and reinhardt ask pharah all about camp, and they smile at each other. “she’s such a great kid,” gabe says, before pharah runs over to him and gives him a tight hug. “you can say that again,” jack laughs, pharah gazing up at them with twinkling chocolate eyes. she then turns around to her mother, grinning brightly. “we have to take them to see the peacocks!” she shouts, and ana whoops with laughter. “of course, dear!”

they all rush inside, pharah leaping onto the island in the kitchen as the adults move around her, letting her weave the tale of her theater camp adventure. as she does so, gabe intertwines his and jack’s fingers together, still looking intently at the egyptian girl. jack squeezes gabe’s hand, a silent “could this be us one day?” being shared between them.

they don’t know. but for now they’re content watching ana amari’s daughter speak excitedly about when they sang “don’t rain on my parade”.

//

“we only have two bikes,” gabe deadpans, pointing at the two average-sized cruisers in the garage. “oh come on,” ana says, sticking her tongue out, “i’m nearly an old woman, and reinhardt can pedal while i sit on the handlebars. same for you boys”

reinhardt laughs. “that sounds good to me, but what about our pharah?” he asks, picking up said girl and spinning her around. she laughs good-naturedly, while ana rolls her eyes. “the girl’s relatively tall, she can run,” pharah groans, but doesn’t complain. “i guess,” jack chimes in, and gabe quickly flips him off as they climb on the bikes.

“pharah, where did you say the peacocks were?” jack asks, trying to include the stoic child. she’s way too mature for her age, more fifteen than eleven, but he supposes she gets that from her mother. “they’re down the road, to the left,” she says, excitement clear in her tone of voice. she’s been begging to show her “uncles” the exotic birds that floated around their neighbours’ house ever since she’d gotten back from theater camp four days ago.

that’s an unfriendly reminder to jack; him, gabe, ana and reinhardt only had a week left before august arrived and they had to return back to the base. pharah would go back to staying with her grandma and the rest of them would be cold with the joys of summer gone.

but they were here now, and jack supposed that was all that mattered.

jack pedals while gabe rides on the handlebars, a fair compromise as gabe hadn’t wanted to “dangerously bike” in the first place. the californian was much better off running, but pharah claimed she was much faster and had more stamina than the soldier.

in all honesty, it looked like the girl did; she ran steadily ahead of the bikes, even though they were going at an average pace. she was fast, and by the looks of it, wasn’t getting tired anytime soon. she hit the pavement light and quick, grinning all the while.

“it’s coming up,” a little quieter than her normal voice. the adults slow the bikes down and gabe and ana hop off the handlebars, leaving jack and reinhardt to park them in the nearby grass. “look,” pharah says, inching toward the beat-up brown shack. they all stare wide-eyed at what they see before them.

peacocks crawl on top of the cars parked in the driveway and on the roof of the house, elegant and dainty and gorgeous in every way. jack notices gabe take a few pictures, and he’s glad his boyfriend remembered his phone. “there’s another,” ana whispers, pointing to the bushes, and surely enough there was another blue and green peacock nestled in the brush.

they gawk at the birds for a few minutes before heading back on bike and foot, cycling their way through the quiet neighbourhood. it’s around six thirty at night, meaning the afternoon was fading fast into dusk, and cars whizzed by on the pavement. ana yells at every car that does so, screaming about how the speed limit was fifteen miles an hour.

“mom, shut up!” pharah laughs, and ana brushes off her daughter’s embarrassment with a bark of laughter. jack feels so wholly happy in that moment, peacocks prancing around in his mind and an assorted family by his side. he smiles up at gabe, who grins back down at him, and they join in the yelling, pharah and reinhardt laughing alongside them.

//

 _it’s chilly for a summer night_ , jack thinks, pulling his hands up into the hoodie he wore. stars twinkled in the night sky, the breeze from the bay cold but not unpleasant. him and gabriel walked to the sound, bare feet hitting against frigid road. gabe wears his trademark beanie, seemingly unfazed by the night air in only a t-shirt and shorts. jack gets another warm feeling blossoming in his chest, and he grins into it.

“we’ll hop this fence,” gabe suggests, pointing over to a bumper on the road next to a dead end sign. the metal of said bumper is even colder against jack’s bare knees, but he ignores it and lands with a thud on the sand.

“very graceful,” gabe teases, flying over the bumper with ease and landing on his feet next to the fallen jack. sand kicks onto jack’s feet, and the blonde grins up at his boyfriend. “shut up,” he says good-naturedly, and gabe grins before pulling jack up with him.

the sand, like the air, is cold, and it’s refreshing as the two of them walk through it. the sound looks peaceful, moonlight reflecting off the water and casting a cool glow into the night. stars decorate the sky like white glitter, and everything in that moment seems unreal.

jack stops them, and before gabe can ask, he pulls the californian in for a kiss. it’s warm and gentle and nice and gabe moans a little into his mouth before pulling them closer together, circling his arms underneath jack’s hoodie onto his stomach.

they break apart only for air, but they’re only centimeters away from each other and jack can feel how warm gabe still is. “i love you,” jack says softly, blue eyes shimmering in moonlight, “so much.” gabe feels his face flush. “love you too,” he murmurs, just so jack can hear him and they kiss again, this time firmer and jack’s hands tangle themselves in the fabric of gabe’s shirt.

when they do stop, they walk to the shoreline of the sound, murky water barely lapping at the sand in front of it. gabe wades in a little, shivering but grinning all the while as his feet sink into the wet sand and water. jack laughs but refuses to wade in as well, already cold from the wind whipping off of the bay. it simultaneously does and does not feel like summer, jack thinks, watching the wild grass growing along the bumper sway in the breeze.

afterwards, when gabe’s feet are cold and they’re growing sleepy, they walk back home in a comfortable silence. it hits them both, in that moment, that this is their last night in the sleepy town ana called home; and they were headed back to war tomorrow. but neither of them choose to comment on it. neither of them choose to remind the other they were going back to a world where at any moment one of them could be gone.

instead they walked quietly, hands intertwined.

//


End file.
